1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coin counter, more particularly to a coin counter that ensures precise counting of coins.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3, a conventional coin counter 1 used in, for example, a bank or a gaming center automatically counts coins. The conventional coin counter 1 includes a stand 11, a receptacle 12, a rotary plate assembly 14, a drive assembly 13, a push member 15, a counter 16, and a deactivation assembly 17.
The receptacle 12 is mounted on the stand 11, and defines a space 125 for holding coins. An opening 124 is formed at an upper end of the space 125 to allow coins to be supplied into the space 125. The drive assembly 13 drives the rotary plate assembly 14 to eject coins from the receptacle 12 through a slot (not shown) formed in the receptacle 12. The rotary plate assembly 14 defines regions 146, each designed to ideally hold a single coin. The push member 15 is made of a pliable material, and is provided in an effort to ensure that the coins are not stacked in each of the regions 146 (i.e., to ensure that only one coin is positioned in each of the regions 146) before being ejected out of the receptacle 12 by the rotary plate assembly 14. The counter 16 includes an interrupting element 162 that is displaced each time a coin is ejected out of the receptacle 12, a sensing element 161 that detects the displacement of the interrupting element 162, and a tension spring 163 having two ends coupled respectively to the stand 11 and the interrupting element 162. The tension spring 163 stores a restoring force when the interrupting element 162 is displaced so as to return the interrupting element 162 to its non-displaced position each time after a coin is ejected.
Detection signals output by the sensing element 161 are used to count the number of coins ejected out of the receptacle 12, that is, the number of coins in the receptacle 12.
The deactivation assembly 17 operates such that when coins are supplied into the receptacle 12, power to the drive assembly 13 is cut off to thereby temporarily discontinue operation of the drive assembly 13.
The conventional coin counter 1 has the following drawbacks:
1. Since the push member 15 is made of a pliable material as described above, the push member 15 is easily deformed, particularly when many coins are present in the receptacle 12. Deformation of the push member 15 may be such that the push member 15 is unable to perform its function of preventing the stacking of coins in the regions 146 defined by the rotary plate assembly 14. If this occurs, more than one coin may be ejected out of the receptacle 12 each time the interrupting element 162 is displaced, thereby resulting in counting errors.
2. The tension spring 163 starts at a non-tensioned, resting position, and is stretched when the interrupting element 162 is displaced. Since some displacement is needed before the tension spring 163 begins to store its restoring force, i.e., begins to be stretched, the overall reaction time of the tension spring 163 is slow. That is, there is a delayed reaction in the tension spring 163 returning the interrupting element 162 to its non-displaced position. In some instances, the delay may be significant enough so that more than one coin is ejected out of the receptacle 12 when the interrupting element 162 is displaced. This further contributes to the possibility of counting errors with the conventional coin counter 1.